Before and after you have a baby

Recently I have been thinking about how much different my life was before Alice came along. You don't realise how much different your life was back then when you were child free. You could go anywhere and do anything without having to worry about this small child who needed your constant care. Although I wouldn't change being a mum for a world just sometimes I day dream about life before I was a mum and just how glorious it was for example:

Showering-

Before baby- nice long hot relaxing showers

After baby- 5 minutes if that in a cold shower while my child screams

eating-

Before baby- mmm this sandwich looks nice I cant wait to eat it all!

After baby- did I even eat today? Oh yeah I made myself a sandwich which Alice ate all off because she wouldn't eat hers even though it was exactly the same!

Socialising-

Before baby- have you seen the latest pitch perfect film its so good!

After baby - have you seen the new episodes of Gigglebiz?

Sleeping-

Before baby- ah its the weekend no alarm for me!

After baby- whats sleep?

Your life changes so much once you have a baby and it is important to remember that you were a person once before a mum and that is okay to day dream about having a wee in peace and shower that lasts more than 5 minutes no one is going to judge you. Life may never be the same but I sure as hell wouldn't change it for the world! Whats something miss that has drastically changed since having a baby i'd be interested to know so comment down below! See you all soon.

The Honest Mum 

xoxo

Review: Silver Cross Pop

The other day I purchased a Silver Cross Pop off Facebook for £10. I have never owned a Silver Cross pushchair before or a stroller for that matter so had no idea what to expect but I absolutely love it! I have now used it a few times and thought I would review it for you all!

The stroller itself is an easy to use stroller which can be used from birth onwards. the stroller lays down flat completely making it safe from birth. You can purchase the stroller from many places such as MotherCare, John Lewis, Argos and many other places. Below I have listed the pros and cons of the stroller:

Pros: 

1. light weight
2. easy to push
3. compact

not to pricey
4.  comes with a good extending hood and rain cover
5. very durable
6. will last baby a long time as is large enough for a 3 year old to fit in

Cons:

1. the basket is a little small
2. the wheels are not very good for turning


As you can see the pros definitely out weigh the cons on this stroller and I have been using it for 6 months now and I am extremely happy with it and would defiently buy it again at full price so if you are looking for a stroller then I would definitely recommend this one! Let me know what other strollers you all have and what you would recommend as I would be interested to know! Thank you for reading this post and I will see you soon!

Places you can purchase it:

https://www.mothercare.com/baby-buggies-and-strollers/silver-cross-pop-star-stroller-exclusive-to-mothercare/LKB743.html

https://www.johnlewis.com/silver-cross-pop-stroller-black/p1861126

https://www.silvercrossbaby.com/our-products/prams-and-strollers/pop2/jet/

The Honest Mum 

xox

5 ways to beat loneliness in motherhood!

Motherhood can be a lonely time. The world is a busy place but you feel like for you that normal everyday life has come to halt and that you are all alone. I know I feel like that 90% of the time. You begin to get into a routine with your child and you start to do the same thing day in day out with your child and it becomes very repetitive and boring. You always read about and see in films; mums strolling around with their friends in their gym kit off to Starbucks for a skinny no- coffee no- sugar no- calories latte and you envy them. You wish your life was exciting as that but the only excitement you will be getting is if there is a new programme on Cbeebies.

When you first have a baby everyone is always round but it seems the older they get the less interested people become. Alice is now nearly 10 months old and James has a full time job so for 5 days a week Alice and I are left to our own devices. Of course I am used to it just being the two of us and we are now in a good routine but I can't help but feel alone. I have friends and family around who care about us and I am grateful for that but it doesn't stop the loneliness from creeping in. It doesn't matter whether you have 1 person stood by you or a 100 motherhood is lonely and it is isolating. 

I know I am not the only one who feels like this because I have spoken to other mums and they feel the same way. No one can prepare you for motherhood and they especially can't prepare you for how isolating it can feel at times. Although you have this tiny version of you to keep you company its just not the same as having an adult conversation. I often find myself rambling away to Alice about things that she wouldn't even understand half the time. Its okay to admit that you are lonely and that you would like to be around other adults and resume to normal life, no one is going to judge you if you do. Although motherhood can be lonely it is also a rewarding job and when your kids are all grown up you will be longing for the days when it was just you and them sat at home in front of Cbeebies. So here are my 5 top tips to beat loneliness in motherhood: 

1. Attended a local baby group- Have a look online for your nearest local baby group most are situated in churches or there is a sing song at the local library. 

2. Join a FaceBook page for mums- I am apart of a few mum groups on FaceBook- one being called "Mumma bears" and the other "Teen Mummies" you can go on these groups and ask for advice and make new friends! 

3. Walking- Go for lots of walks also help as you will be surprised at the amount of people you chit chat with when out on a walk and its also good exercise for you too! 

4. Eating out- Take your little ones out for lunch to your local cafe- that way you converse with people and get a nice lunch out of it and it gives you a change of scenery from being stuck in the house! 

5. Advice lines- Another thing to do is you can contact advice lines such as breathing space where they will put you through to someone who can you have a talk with if you are feeling lonely or anxious! 

This year I am going to try and get out more with Alice and meet new people because I am sick of being stuck in a rut. There are always plenty of baby groups in the local area so if you are feeling like you are isolated then why not go out to one of your local baby groups, you'll meet other mums who I can guarentee feel the way you do! 

New years resolutions: fab or fail?

Ah 2019. Another year has been and gone. I always feel very focused and inspired when the new year comes around and I always say this year is going to be my year. Everywhere I look on social media all I see is "New year, new me", "My goals for 2019" and so on. It is great to see so many people inspired and ready to take on the new year but are new years resolutions fab or a fail?

Don't get me wrong I am not against anyone who sets new years resolutions I mean good for you if you want to try achieve something this year however I personally think what is the point? I have a few "goals" shall we say for the new year but nothing in set in stone? Why because I feel that if it set in stone and I don't achieve it then I feel like a failure.

I remember the days when new years resolutions used to be something simple like make your bed everyday or smile more, nowadays people want to loose 10 stone, go on a 3 month travel round the world, set up a YouTube channel, blog, vlog, stop drinking, stop smoking oh and don't forget buy a house, have a cool car and so on... Although you  could do all of those things it would be very hard and unrealistic to achieve all that in one year. I personally think you should find one thing that you are really adamant on doing and stick to it and focus on it for the year because if you set a million and one things to do in the year you are just going to get overwhelmed by it all and then be miserable and feel like a failure when you can complete it all. So my advice to you would be to pick something that stands out something that you have wanted to do for a while and focus on that. When you give something your all you will find the results are 10x times better, so if your goal is loose weight this year then just solely focus on that and you will find that in time maybe 6-7 months time you have lost the weight you wanted and therefore giving you time to focus on a new thing.

Now I understand that its a new year and that most people see it as a clean slate however something that baffles me is around December time people will chit chat and say in the new year I am going to exercise more, I am going to eat more healthy and so on but personally I think its wrong. Why do you have to wait until the new year to do all those things? What is stopping you from starting them right now? People are so engrossed in the fact that is a new year, clean slate and fresh start which it is but if you want to achieve something then it would't matter what day of the year it is. There is never a wrong time to achieve your goals and aspirations. So if you haven't quite figured out where you are going yet there is still time and anytime is the right time to achieve your dreams.

So what are your goals and aspirations for the new year? I am interested to know. Here are mine:

1. Grow my youtube channel and blog
2. be more tidy and organised.


I decided that I would only set myself two this year as last year I told myself I would do this and that and I got stressed out at the fact that I couldn't keep up with them all so this year I have set myself two goals that I am going to try and stick to for the rest of the year. I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas and fantastic new year and I look forward to seeing you all here a lot more!

The Honest Mum xox

This weeks weekly vlog for you please check it out and subscribe to see more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syY9ruhlpUw&t=20s

How I deal with my anxiety

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog if you are new then please come on in get cosy. My name is Charlotte I run a YouTube channel called"The Honest Mum" please check it out and subscribe, I also run this blog. 

Today I am going to be talking about something that affects so many people daily and that is anxiety. I suffer from anxiety and have done for a few years now and never really talked about it with anyone. I kept it in the dark and thought that people would judge me and think I was weird for being scared to go out. This made things a lot worse and its only recently where I have been reading about other peoples battles with anxiety that I do not feel alone and that lots of other people also suffer from it.

I don't take medication for my anxiety as I feel it wouldn't help and also my anxiety isn't bad everyday that I feel I need to be taking daily medication. Some days are better than others as you will know if you have anxiety. So because I don't take medication for it I decided that I would share with you all my no medicated ways of helping me deal with my anxiety so here goes: 

1. Downloading the app Head space- I downloaded an app called "Head space" I was skeptical at first to wether it would work or not but so far so good. I can go on the app every day and it will give me a 2-3 minute breathing exercise to do to try and control my anxiety. I really enjoy this app it is simple to use and only takes 5 minutes of your day and really relaxes you (also its free!) 

2. Anxiety journal- I recently have started writing an anxiety journal to help track my anxiety. I start of by writing how I felt when I woke up, something that has made me anxious today, something that has made me feel better today, rating out of 5 for anxiousness that a day, something I am proud of and lastly how I feel when I go to bed. This works really well as it lets me vent out my feelings and I can look back and see my progress of my anxiety. 

3. Pushing yourself- Another thing I have been doing which has helped is pushing myself. Some days I don't leave the house at all and that makes me feel worse. Recently I have been pushing myself to leave the house more, go to a baby group or to the shops even if I don't want to. It is important to push yourself further because it is no good staying in your comfort zone or you are never going to be rid of your anxiety. 

4. Planning and organising- Lastly I have been planning and organising my life a little better recently. I have a list of jobs for the day that I have to achieve. I make sure I get up and dressed and eat three solid meals a day too. Since having more structure in my life my anxiety hasn't been as bad because I find when I sit in front of the TV all day in pjs I feel 10 times worse.

So there we go my 4 top tips for kicking anxiety's butt. Do any of you have any tips for dealing with anxiety? I would be interested to know so comment down below! Thank you for reading and I will see you next time. 

The Honest Mum 

xoxo

Why I left YouTube

Hello everyone and welcome to a new blog post, if you a new hello and welcome to my blog The Honest Mum its great to have you. I have two things to address with you all today. The first thing is Blogmas, for those of you that are wondering what happened to blogmas this year I ended it. I ended it because Alice got ill and so did me and James, I got really behind and he stress of trying to catch up with it was not worth it. I hope to be able to do it next year but for that reason I have decided to stop this year. Secondly I would like to address why I left YouTube. I have made a full video on this which I will link down below for you so please check that out and subscribe to my channel it would mean a lot.

I have always had a passion to do YouTube and blogging for many years now. I started a YouTube channel when Alice was only 3 months old and I did upload a few videos on there however they were not the best quality or content I could of produced. I then started slacking and I had no enthusiasm or inspiration to film and I had a new born baby which I was focusing all my attention on so I gave up. Fast forward to present time and Alice is almost 1 and I have my mojo back. I feel inspired and ready to go back to YouTube. I have lots of great ideas and I am so excited to get back out there and show everyone my content. It has definitely been a rollercoaster but I am now ready to get on the roller coaster and ride it. Linked below is a link to my latest video if you could please watch it, like it and subscribe I would be very grateful. Thanks for reading this post and I will see you soon!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXGND0ie2xs

The Honest Mum 

xoxo

Alternative advent calendars for children

The festive season is upon us and I am going to bringing you 25 days of blogmas. Everyday I will be giving you a christmas themed blog post revolving around motherhood and lifestyle. I am really excited to start this as I have so many creative ideas to share you with you all so check back everyday to see more! So without further a do I give you post number one!

When I was a child I remember being so excited for December to start partly because it was nearly christmas and for the simple reason that I got to eat a little piece of chocolate every morning. Now if you are sitting here thinking I am not sure I was my child eating chocolate every morning because they will be bouncing of the walls, or that you want to give them an advent calendar that is different than anyone they have had before then here are some ideas of different ones you could do!

1. 25 books- This year as Alice won't even be 1 we decided that we were going to do a book advent calendar. We got 10 books for £10 from the works so in total spent £25 altogether. This is a great idea as you could get christmas themed books and you and your child could go up to bed every night and unwrap a book and snuggle into bed.

2. Story of Jesus- Another advent you could use is a story of Jesus advent calendar. This advent tells the story of the day Jesus was born in little books that you and your little ones could read every night and they could learn all about the birth of baby Jesus.

3. Pound shop toys- This idea works really well if you have elf on the shelf in your home. You could purchase 24 toys from the pound shop, hide them around the house and leave trails and clues to find them.

4. 24 films- For the older children you could buy 24 christmas themed films for them to watch every nights. This idea is great because its not just for the children its fun for the whole family!


All these ideas are great to mix things up this christmas but I feel that each year the lead up to christmas is getting more expensive. Elf on the shelf leaving special presents, LOL dolls, Play Mobile and advent calendars all cost at least £20. It puts a strain on parents because they feel that because everyone else child will be getting an expensive calendar they feel they cannot deprive their child of one. I personally feel that a normal chocolate advent calendar is fine, when I was younger thats all there was, kids these days are spoilt for choice. However that is just my personal opinion, let me know what you think in the comments, are children's advent calendars too expensive? And what alternative advents are you doing? I would be interested to know! See you tomorrow for another post on 25 days of blogmas!

The Honest Mum 

xoxo